Earlier this week, a report surfaced that the Nashville Predators selected Mike Fisher as their new captain. The team confirmed as much on Thursday.
Fisher, 36, becomes the seventh captain in team history. Shea Weber leaves big shoes to fill after serving in this role from 2010-11 through 2015-16.
“It is the right choice, and there’s a lot of confidence when we made that choice that we got the right guy,” Peter Laviolette said. “After being around Mike and watching him, seeing how he handles the team, how he works every day and how he interacts with his players and coaches, we 100 percent got the right guy.”
Short-term fix?
Speaking of getting the right guy, the most interesting question may revolve around how long Fisher actually serves as Predators captain. His $4.4 million cap hit expires after the 2016-17 season, and at age 36, you have to wonder how much longer he’ll stick around.
(Maybe he’s keeping the seat warm while Nashville mulls over some nice choices in young players like P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg?)
Now, the Predators don’t seem concerned about Fisher’s longevity, at least on the record:
David Poile: "Mike can play here as long as he wants. I don't view this as a one-year captaincy." #Preds
— Brooks Bratten 🍪 (@brooksbratten) September 8, 2016
The Predators put together a nice montage to celebrate the decision:
So, we had a little news to debut today... #Preds pic.twitter.com/KvSKDCxZNp
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) September 9, 2016
Veteran presence on a fresh-faced team
Fisher first joined the Predators in 2010-11 after being traded from the Ottawa Senators. He’s played in 341 regular season games with Nashville along with 39 postseason contests.
Mike Ribeiro is the only member of the Predators roster who is older than Fisher (by a few months).
Along with Weber and now Fisher, the Predators list of captains also included Tom Fitzgerald, Greg Johnson, Kimmo Timonen and Jason Arnott.
Here’s hoping Fisher rising to this level means that people freshen their jokes about his marriage to Carrie Underwood. It’s time, gang.
So proud of my man! He's going to be an amazing Captain! Congrats @mikefisher1212 https://t.co/aZ9WFzODYN pic.twitter.com/3uyWkE3Fbk
— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) September 8, 2016